diff --git a/cli/bash/commands/basectl/subcommands/gh_branch_worktree.sh b/cli/bash/commands/basectl/subcommands/gh_branch_worktree.sh
index ac55e05f..4cda5445 100644
--- a/cli/bash/commands/basectl/subcommands/gh_branch_worktree.sh
+++ b/cli/bash/commands/basectl/subcommands/gh_branch_worktree.sh
@@ -517,13 +517,14 @@ base_gh_worktree_prune_delete_branch() {
     upstream="$(base_gh_branch_upstream "$branch")"
     if [[ "$merge_source" != github && -n "$upstream" ]] && ! base_gh_branch_merged_to_ref "$branch" "$upstream"; then
         printf 'SKIP-BRANCH %s  not fully merged to upstream %s\n' "$branch" "$upstream"
-        return 0
+        return 1
     fi
 
     if base_gh_branch_delete "$branch" "$merge_source"; then
         printf 'DELETE %s\n' "$branch"
     else
         printf 'SKIP-BRANCH %s  git branch -d refused\n' "$branch"
+        return 1
     fi
 }
 
@@ -621,7 +622,9 @@ base_gh_worktree_prune() {
         elif git worktree remove "$path" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
             printf 'REMOVE %s (%s)\n' "$path" "$branch"
             removed=$((removed + 1))
-            base_gh_worktree_prune_delete_branch "$branch" "$merge_source"
+            if ! base_gh_worktree_prune_delete_branch "$branch" "$merge_source"; then
+                failed=$((failed + 1))
+            fi
         else
             printf 'FAIL   %s (%s)  git worktree remove failed\n' "$path" "$branch"
             failed=$((failed + 1))
diff --git a/cli/bash/commands/basectl/tests/gh-branch-worktree.bats b/cli/bash/commands/basectl/tests/gh-branch-worktree.bats
index 2a014108..d813c04f 100644
--- a/cli/bash/commands/basectl/tests/gh-branch-worktree.bats
+++ b/cli/bash/commands/basectl/tests/gh-branch-worktree.bats
@@ -788,6 +788,39 @@ EOF
     ! git -C "$repo" show-ref --verify --quiet refs/heads/merged-work
 }
 
+@test "basectl gh worktree prune reports retained branches after deletion failure" {
+    local repo worktree
+
+    repo="$TEST_TMPDIR/repo"
+    worktree="$TEST_TMPDIR/merged-worktree"
+    init_git_repo "$repo"
+    printf 'hello\n' > "$repo/README.md"
+    commit_all "$repo" "Initial commit"
+    git -C "$repo" branch merged-work
+    git -C "$repo" worktree add "$worktree" merged-work >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+    run env \
+        HOME="$TEST_HOME" \
+        BASE_HOME="$BASE_REPO_ROOT" \
+        bash -c '
+            cd "$1"
+            source "$BASE_HOME/base_init.sh"
+            source "$BASE_HOME/cli/bash/commands/basectl/subcommands/gh.sh"
+            base_gh_worktree_prune_delete_branch() {
+                printf "SKIP-BRANCH %s  simulated branch delete failure\n" "$1"
+                return 1
+            }
+            base_gh_subcommand_main worktree prune --yes
+        ' bash "$repo"
+
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"REMOVE "*"/merged-worktree (merged-work)"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"SKIP-BRANCH merged-work  simulated branch delete failure"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"Summary: 1 removed, 1 skipped current/default, 0 skipped dirty, 0 skipped unmerged, 1 failed."* ]]
+    [ ! -e "$worktree" ]
+    git -C "$repo" show-ref --verify --quiet refs/heads/merged-work
+}
+
 @test "basectl gh worktree prune skips dirty worktrees" {
     local repo worktree
 
diff --git a/docs/github-workflow.md b/docs/github-workflow.md
index 33c0dcf9..02ff26e3 100644
--- a/docs/github-workflow.md
+++ b/docs/github-workflow.md
@@ -438,6 +438,10 @@ a merged GitHub PR, then deletes the now-free local branch when safe. Resolve an
 reported GitHub verification failures and rerun the preview before applying it
 with `--yes`.
 
+If a worktree is removed but its local branch cannot be deleted, the command
+retains the branch, reports the incomplete cleanup, and exits nonzero. Resolve
+the branch condition before treating the cleanup as complete.
+
 When `basectl gh branch prune` reports branches attached to worktrees, preview
 those worktrees with `basectl gh worktree prune`, apply the safe removals with
 `basectl gh worktree prune --yes`, and rerun the branch-prune command. The